All posts by Financial Independence Hub

FWB TV: The pro and cons of robo-advisers

Posted By Financial Independence Hub | March 24, 2016

The latest FWB TV video is now available here at Findependence.TV and at FWB Securities.com: If you’re not a Robo client then perhaps a Robo-Advisor is not for you.

Robo-Advice is automated portfolio management with minimal human interaction. As the video points out, the growing popularity of robo advisors have made them one of the biggest developments in investing in recent years: they’re easy, simple and cost effective, which makes them especially appealing to younger investors.

In the 4-minute video, host Robin Powell interviews a robo-skeptic: Neil Bage of UK-based Suitable Strategies. He says investing involves a lot more than just filling out questionnaires and doing math and is concerned that if the human advice element is not present, investors may suffer if they miss out on the “seeing the whites of the eyes” type of face-to-face conversations about risk and risk tolerance.

(Mind you, American robo services are more likely NOT to have a human advice component; most robo services in Canada tend to offer at least some human interaction to complement the automated online component.) Continue Reading…

Budget closes two Life Insurance Tax Planning strategies

Posted By Financial Independence Hub | March 23, 2016

By Robert G. Kepes, Morris Kepes Winters

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

The March 22, 2016 federal budget closed two tax-planning strategies that involved the use of life insurance and private companies. Here is the first one:

Capital Dividend Account (CDA) Planning

The death benefit from an exempt life insurance policy is tax-free, and the same principle holds true if a private company is the beneficiary of the policy. The life insurance proceeds are added to the CDA of the private company when they can later be paid as a tax-free capital dividend to the shareholder. However, if the company is both the owner and beneficiary of the policy, then the amount that goes into the CDA is only the amount in excess of the adjusted cost base (ACB) of the policy.

For example, if the death benefit is $1 million and the ACB is $100,000, then only $900,000 is available for the CDA. Only $900,000 can be paid out tax-free, while the other $100,000 would be paid as a taxable dividend to the shareholder.

It follows that if the policy owner is not also the corporate beneficiary, then there is no reduction to the beneficiary’s CDA. A common planning strategy was to have ownership of the life policy in a parent holding company with the subsidiary company the beneficiary. This was done especially if the subsidiary was operating an active business and the owner did not want the policy to be an asset of the business that could be attacked by creditors.

Upon the death of the insured, the full death benefit of $1 million would go into the subsidiary’s CDA and be available to be paid out tax-free. Continue Reading…

Let’s tackle Ageism, not quibble about Age: OAS Eligibility to move back to 65 from 67

Posted By Financial Independence Hub | March 22, 2016

By Lisa Taylor, ChallengeFactory.ca

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

In this week’s federal budget, the Liberal Government will announce that they are returning the eligibility age for OAS back to 65. In recent years, the previous Conservative government had shifted the eligibility age to 67, mirroring moves in many other countries.

Since Prime Minister Trudeau declared this intention, first in the federal campaign and then in this recent Bloomberg News interview, I’ve been asked by many to react.

Most assume that Challenge Factory, with its focus on workforce engagement for people in their 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond would resist this change to lower in effect Canada’s “retirement” age.

Whether the age of eligibility is set at 65 or 67 or 71 is irrelevant if the government doesn’t also take steps to foster the older workers and the intergenerational workforce. Eligibility does not necessarily correlate to when Canadians will choose to leave the workforce and the danger in this new announcement is that the headline remains focused on age 65 as a targeted age for people to make their exit.

We are optimistic that this move marks the beginning of new and beneficial discussions about ageism, aging and the workforce.

New definition needed for the word “retirement”

A walk along Risk Road, Part 2: Investing in a Slow-Growth world

Posted By Financial Independence Hub | March 21, 2016

MAWER_Jim Hall 4x6 Formal blue bg — Mawer’s CIO, Jim Hall

By Cameron Webster, CFA
Institutional Portfolio Manager, Mawer Investment Management Ltd.

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

A few weeks ago in Part 1 of this series, we ran an interview featuring Mawer’s chief investment officer, Jim Hall (pictured, left) about current interest-rate trends and deflation.

This is the follow-up interview, where we look in more depth at the problem of investing in a low-growth world.

As noted earlier, we at Mawer spend a great deal of time asking and answering the question: So What? A company’s share price is down 6%…so what? A central bank moved interest rates up…so what? Google re-named itself Alphabet…so what?

It’s not always an easy question to answer and often leads us to ask even more questions in an effort to develop key investment insights. “So what?” is one of the questions that can lead us to investment action (or inaction) in our process of building well-diversified, resilient portfolios.

MAWER_Cameron-Webster-4x6-Formal-blue-bg — Cameron Webster

Cameron Webster: Jim, last time we discussed how Mawer’s quarterly risk review ranks macro risks on both probability of occurrence and degree of severity. Remind us why this is part of the investment process.

Jim Hall: It is not enough to just look at potential risks. We need to ask ourselves is it something we need to do something about? Is this something upon which we need to act? Is it important? That’s the value in evaluating these risks on both probability of occurrence and severity of consequence. Continue Reading…

2016 planning priorities for business owners

Posted By Financial Independence Hub | March 18, 2016

By Adrian Mastracci, KCM Wealth

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

Today’s business owners are preoccupied with the day-to-day operations for 2016. They need plenty of encouragement in planning their tomorrows.

Owners know that curve balls can suddenly appear practically every day. A continuous challenge for many is trying to improve their business prospects.

Business plans can easily veer off course, often beyond one’s control. A refresh of your business elements is good value.

First, mull over what you would like to achieve with your business.
Then brainstorm with some solid ideas.

Assess, Analyze & Adopt